live from washington. this is bbc news in a defiant statement, iran's supreme leader claims the us did not accomplish anything significant with its strikes on the country's nuclear facilities. but the trump administration insists that the us strikes did cause severe damage to iran's nuclear programme. the british prime minister, sir keir starmer, looks set to cave into labour rebels and scrap plans for an overhaul of the welfare system hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. president trump has called for democrats to face charges, accusing them, without evidence, of leaking information after the us strikes on iran. president trump wrote on his social media platform: "the democrats are the ones

who leaked the information on the perfect flight to the ?uclear sites in iran," adding: "they should be prosecuted!". the president is referencing a preliminary intelligence assessment that was leaked to the press this week. it suggested the us strikes had set back iran's nuclear programme by only a matter of months. on thursday, defence secretary pete hegseth pushed back strongly, providing new evidence of what he called a "historically successful attack." meanwhile, the white house is reportedly planning to limit intelligence-sharing with congress, following that intelligence leak. here's white house press secretary karoline leavitt. this administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence does not end up in irresponsible hands and that people who had the privilege of doing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it, and unfortunately, clearly, someone who had their hands on this, and it was very few people, very few number of people in our government who saw this report, that person was irresponsible with it, and we need to get

to the bottom of it and we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the american public. republican congressman mike turner sits on the house armed services committee. speaking to my colleague caitriona perry, he discussed the importance of keeping classified information, classified. you have to understand why this information is classified, military conflict, and ongoing military issue. the ayatollah is in hiding because of the fact that this was a military conflict. this information is classified because there are lives at risk, there are lives at stake. this has severe and significant consequences. so as we do these assessments and take a look at the issues and try to understand how this affects both policy, this affects both our actions

and what actions israel will be taking, that we would be taking, so some of these aspects, even how we learn these answers, are not up for public discussion among journalists as we go in behind closed doors as policymakers and the department of defence and our intelligence community presents information for the department of defence and the president to receive this information. us senators received a classified briefing on the iran strikes. i spoke to democratic senator chris coons, a member of the senate foreign relations committee. senator, what is your assessment of the intelligence after the briefing you received? i can't go into the details of the intelligence conveyed to members of congress, but more than ever i am reaffirmed in my belief that the intelligence community needs to deliver to congress a nonpolitical concrete and thorough assessment of the damage caused

by the american strikes on three iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and it is too early for us to reach any definitive conclusion. so when our president says there were absolutely obliterated, i do not think the intelligence yet supports that, and as more detailed and thorough analysis is completed, and conveyed to congress, we can then make assessments and decisions about what to do next regarding iran's dangerous nuclear enrichment programme. i understand you can't share the details of the intelligence with us, but which questions remain outstanding for you? a general question, what, if anything, will other nation states do to assist iran? there are nuclear states like north korea, pakistan, russia, whichiran has a close relationship that may choose to get involved in either transferring technology or nuclear material or arms, and it is important for us to get an assessment

of what, if any, decisions they are making, and what, if any, decisions the iranian regime leadership are making about their path forward. i think the best path forward for the united states is to continue to pursue and support a cease-fire between israel and iran and a negotiation that leads to a thorough and complete end to iran nuclear enrichment programme that is confirmed by independent inspectors on the ground. frankly, only then can we can say with confidence that we have ended iran's nuclear enrichment. on that point of negotiations, our partners here in the us, cbs news, reported that the trump administration are considering options to bring iran back to the negotiating table, one would allow iran to access billions to build a civilian nuclear programme, from middle

east partners, and other would provide sanctions relief for zero enrichment, what you think of these angles that the trump administration might be taken? it sounds awfully familiar, because frankly with the jcpoa, with the united states and our core european allies, as well as china and russia, worked hard together to put in place for many years ago, a framework that, in exchange for sanctions relief, got inspectors and the removal from iran of it's then enriched stockpile. it sounds to me as if the president and his team are considering a similar offer to iran at this point, abandon your nuclear enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief and investment in economic recovery in iran. i would support something like that, but would have to see the details. i think we have a moment here to address iran's ballistic missile programme and its support for proxies in the region. iran has long been a state

sponsor of terrorism and its support for hezbollah, hamas, houthis in iraq has long caused huge difficulties, both threatening israel and attacking and killing american service members in the region. while we have you, i would like to ask a question about big beautiful bill making its way through the senate at the moment, the president's signature bill on tax and spending which seems to have hit a few snags, one on cuts to medicaid, do you think that this bill will be finished by the deadline the president set which was july four? i don't know, but what is happening is republicans, as they fought hard about the impact this big but not beautiful bill would have on hospitals and health care and their voters and constituents, many are balking at just how deep the cuts are that some republicans are demanding to pay for that massive tax

cuts for and profitable companies, so they are having real difficulty getting the votes they need to clear the threshold in the senate, so it is being pushed back by days if not longer. republicans are warning if it does not get past it, there will be a tax hike of 3.8 trillion dollars when the tax breaks were put in place in 2017 expire, what is your response to that? i would join in extending the tax cuts for all who make less than $400,000 a year, but that is a fairly small proportion of the total tax cuts they are seeking to extend. by allowing the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans to expire, we generate the revenue that would make it possible to actually reduce the deficit and debt and actually provide some of the services like medicaid for disabled americans and senior citizens and infants that republicans are now realising will really

hurt their constituents if they are cut as deeply as proposed. earlier today, i met with 50 nurses from delaware who work for every hospital in my home state and they were united in saying do not cut medicaid, it is what provides critical life-saving health care for so many millions of americans. it would be a very foolish things for republicans to do politically and harmful to the american people. iran's foreign minister says no nuclear talks are planned with the us. that's despite president trump saying negotiations were set for next week. the supreme leader, in his first public appearance since the us strikes, said the strikes had achieved nothing. he claimed victory over israel and dismissed the us attack as showmanship by president trump. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in the iranian capital tehran. she is being allowed to report from there on condition that none of her coverage is used on the bbc's persian service, which broadcasts to the people of iran. this law from the authorities applies to all international

media agencies operating in iran. here is her report. iran's state tv, the studio where the supreme leader's speeches are aired. but not today. not after israel attacked it. explosion. forcing the newsreader to flee, her desk devoured by fire. today, a fiery message of his own from the ayatollah, said to have sheltered in a bunker during the war. translation: iran, with its iron national resolve, rejects surrender. for a country like this, the idea of surrender is laughable to anyone who truly knows the iranian nation. for now, a fragile ceasefire. tehran starts to look like itself. its infamous traffic, its beautiful bazaars. residents slowly returning to a city they left to escape the bombs.

but for some, it's still a battle just to breathe. in this ward, there are civilians not soldiers. murtaza shows us his scars. he was working in the transport department when the entrance to the notorious evin prison was bombed. translation: israel lies saying they are only hitting military and nuclear sites. they hit a prison, i was there, i was hurt, and i'm amazed countries like england, france, the us and the un don't condemn israel. the abandoned american embassy, a monument to iran's troubled relationship with the west, accused of sponsoring terrorism of trying to develop a nuclear bomb, charges tehran denies. but even inside this former embassy, a cafe serving iced americanos.

amir tells me he wants to see a better relationship between america and iran. so many iranians do. but in this dark time, there's still not much light. the message in public was defiant, but this blackened studio symbolises this dark moment in iran, the most difficult and dangerous decisions confronting the supreme leader, the most fateful choices in his nearly 40 years in power. a new, uncertain chapter in an old, long-standing war. lyse doucet, bbc news, tehran.

you're watching bbc news. the us state department says it's approved $30 million in funding for the gaza humanitarian foundation. it's the first direct us funding for the ghf, a controversial aid group that's supported by the americans and israelis. six people were killed while waiting for aid at us-israeli-backed aid sites on thursday. the united nations says more than 400 palestinians have been killed in the past month, while seeking aid from both the un and ghf operations. the ghf denies that deadly incidents have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. in total on thursday, gaza's hamas-run civil defence agency says israeli forces killed more than 50 palestinians. one israeli air strike , allegedly targeting hamas police , killed 18 people and injured dozens more shopping in a busy market in central gaza. the israeli military has yet to comment on the strike. in israel, mourners gathered to attend the funeral of 71-year-old israeli hostage

ofra keidar. the israeli military said sunday it recovered the bodies of three hostages, including mrs keidar, in gaza more than 20 months after they were abducted by hamas militants. with israel's ceasefire with iran holding, focus is moving to a possible gaza ceasefire. our correspondent, mark lowen, has more from jerusalem. while the ceasefire with iran is still in place, it is hoped that maybe it could provide momentum to end the war in gaza, and yet the killings there still go on. dozens more killed today, according to the local authorities in gaza, many of them killed at aid distribution points, this very controversial us-israeli aid mechanism where really there are killings and deaths every day. the trump administration says that a deal could be very close to end the war in gaza, but even though the regional mediation has been stepped up, we understand, both sides - israel and hamas - still have very, very many obstacles between them, notably hamas's demand

that a ceasefire could lead to a permanent end to the war in gaza. that is something that the far-right of benjamin netanyahu's cabinet fiercely opposes. the kenyan government has condemned deadly unrest across the country as a quote, 'failed coup'. kenya's interior minister denied that the police used excessive force during wednesday's protests, describing them as "terrorism disguised as dissent." the united nations says it's deeply concerned by the violence that has left more than 10 people dead and hundreds injured. the un's human rights office called for "calm", whilst stressing the right for "freedom of expression". most of those killed, after nationwide protests, died from gunshot wounds. kenya's independent police oversight authority says it has launched an investigation into the deaths. let's bring you some developing political news from the uk now. where the prime minister looks set to cave into labour rebels over the government's plans for an overhaul of

the welfare system. more than 120 labour mps have signed an amendment calling for the government to scrap its proposed cuts to some disability benefits ahead of a commons vote next tuesday. now sir keir starmer has agreed to make some concessions. as senior labour mp now says she will support the bill. these are important changes and shows how labour supports the most vulnerable and this package is about helping people get into work which the core labour party value, i will back it now because i think it is a good step forward and making the major changes are welcome and i'm delighted the government has been listening. our political correspondent damian grammaticus is in westminster and following developments. what you have here is on one hand, the government had said that it has to reform the welfare system because the benefits bill is just rising too far too fast and is unsustainable and on the other side, labour mps who are deeply worried and said the proposal

for the cut to target benefits going to the disabled, those with long-term health conditions, to remove money from some of them, lower the payments and limit the eligibility, that they felt deeply uncomfortable with that and felt it simply did not accord with the values of the labour party should have. so many of them had signed up to a measure that will block the legislation next week that the prime minister has been discussing concessions this climb-down and it will be a really serious one and we haven't had the final confirmation of it but everything points to this being a major u-turn. how big of a blow is this to the prime minister and went are the conservatives saying? so, for the prime minister it will be a very serious one and the most significant if it

comes to pass the most significant u-turn of his year in office these perform some already but this is on a core measure and so, there will be issues raised about whether the prime minister will carry out u-turns and have the authority and control and questions about the legislation now. if he concedes on some measures and it seems like the government will do is those existing claimants will be protected will be new claimants affected and that means difficult things to get the legislation redrawn and through but also difficult questions about the money because the savings that were crucial to the budget now will not be happening so they need to find those elsewhere a newly-assembled group of advisers to the us's public health agency has voted to recommend against flu vaccines containing a preservative that anti-vaccine groups claim is not safe. it was one of the first votes by the advisory panel since us health secretary robert f kennedy jr - himself a vaccine sceptic - removed all 17 of its experts,

and replaced them with seven of his own selections. that new panel voted 5-1 on thursday to recommend against flu shots that contain thimerosal. one panelist abstained. before the vote, the panel heard from lynn redwood - former president of an anti-vaccine group founded by mr kennedy. she claimed that thimerosal is toxic - counter to a range of evidence-based studies that there is no proven harm from the ingredient. thimerosal is used in less than 5% of us flu vaccines. the panel did not publicly consider scientific data from the centers for disease control and prevention. the bbc's us news partner cbs reported on thursday that ms redwood is tipped to join the centers for disease control and prevention as a special government employee. joining me live is dr fiona havers. she was formerly the cdc lead for the respiratory virus hospitalisation surveillance network team she is currently hospitalisation surveillance network team. she is currently a staff physician at the atlanta va medical centre and adjunct associate professor

at emory university's school of medicine. thank you for joining us, and on this very specific point of the flu vaccines that were discussed today, why has thimerosal, this elements, become an issue? i think what happened today it represents rfk jr also take of the cdc vaccine policy process, and i think there's been long-standing this information is spread about thimerosal in vaccines, and it has been debunked about leading to autism, but it is the focus of people like rfk jr and lynn redwood, the person presented as a, so i think it is interesting the very first time this is in committee that he installed, it chose to vote on the saturday, completely bypassing cdc experts, normal cdc procedures for having that vote to change policy, to change cdc recommendations, so

it was extremely concerning that this was even brought up today, the way it was handled was appalling, and i was really shocked by what happened today. we mentioned that 17 experts had been removed from the vaccine board, now seven on this board, what impact do you think that is going to have? this vaccine advisory committee is very important because the recommendations, if they become official cdc policy, dictate access to vaccines in america because if it is on the cdc official schedule insurers are required to pay for it. they took a group of very highly respected, well vetted outside experts and fired them wholesale without cause and replace them with people who, frankly, after watching the meetings of the last two days, many of whom are not qualified to be on this board or waning unscientific decisions. what they did today was completely bypassing the normal process,

the formal review of scientific evidence that normally happens before a vote to change the recommendations occur. i think it is very concerning that this is one of many, the first are probably many moves to restrict access to vaccines that are well known to be safe and effective. can i jumping, and ask secretary craig -- secretary kennedy has said it's about restoring trust in science and pointed to some cdc recommendations, or has pointed to in the past, during the pandemic, of a reason of why people have lost trust in science. what is your response to that? my response is that cdc and the advisory committee have established procedures over the last several decades to make sure the process by which recommendations are made for vaccines in the united states is very evidence-based and transparent. by firing all of the experts, first of all, many issues with that, but

replacing them with people not properly vetted and bypassing all the normal procedures by which evidence is transparently reviewed, graded formally, and then experts from multiple different groups are allowed to weigh in, they bypass all of that, and i think it is very clear that even though he uses words like restoring trust and evidence-based science, it is clear that they are not interested in that at all. they are not following proper procedures that would allow that process to happen. they opened the meeting yesterday by talking about how they were going to, the chair, discussed how they would revisit the childhood immunisation schedule for the united states, and i think it is concerning the may move to potentially restrict access and limit insurance coverage for other safe and effective vaccines. we just have about a minute left, but you actually resigned from the cdc, can you tell us why? i resigned a job that i loved and

wanted to keep to protest rfk jr's wholesale interference into the cdc vaccine policy process because what he is doing is destroying confidence in vaccines and is also now pulling levers of government power to restrict americans access to vaccines and limited insurance access to vaccine products. i'm worried that more americans will die directly as a result of rfk jr insurance -- interference in this process, and for my own personal integrity, i could not be a part of which is advising this committee moving forward doing that. doctor fiona havers, thank you for joining us on bbc and sharing your expertise, we appreciate that. that is a programme on bbc news, thank you for watching, and you can stay up-to-date on the very latest on our website, bbc .com/ news, the latest headlines and analysis from correspondence around the

world. will be back with an update of your headlines at the top of the hour. stay with

from kuala lumpur, malaysia, this is the bbc world service. this multiethnic, multiracial nation has gone from rural poverty to urban affluence in two generations. it trades with china and the us. but as they clash, which way will it turn? this southeast asian nation is divided into east and west by the south china sea. it's an heir to immigration from india and china and beyond. and it's a country where islam is dominant, but freedom of worship is guaranteed by the constitution. modernity has come at a rush to malaysia, but growth has brought many questions - how to distribute the riches more equally? how to govern without the stain of corruption? and how to navigate the clash of the great powers -